Sinister Schemings and Dodgy Dealings
by Zuperbuu
Summary: A Young Starscream is exiled from Cybertron and stumbles upon the god of mischief Loki on Earth, where the duo conduct various schemes to terminate their foes and plot to rule the world. But can the pair also avoid plotting against each other? Rated T.
1. Chapter 1 Exile

Sinister Schemings and Dodgy Dealings

CHAPTER 1 - Exile

__ What is it about a charming, frail young man that makes even the most powerful of authority figures hearts suddenly turn soft?  
>Magic? Chemistry? How about wearing a mask of nothing but lies?<p>

That's right; _lies_.

Everyone lies of course, usually for self-preservation or the irritating itch that is 'romance'; it is in our nature as human beings to lie to win the hearts and minds of those we care about, or to those we wish to bleed valuables from be it the form of something physical or mental.  
>Alas; lies only last as long as the masquerade to maintain them does. One accidental slip of the tongue, or nervous twitch in front of those who are classed as your 'superior' and the entire throne of lies you were happily sat upon suddenly comes crashing down.<p>

And no liar is more accustomed to this cycle than a Cybernetic Organism from the alien planet Cybertron called Starscream.

Starscream was a tall, lanky metallic creature constantly standing on the tips of his toes by the aid of high-hells, with his head lowered in submission; his large gleaming red optics standing out alongside his reddened quiffs of robotic hair, striding cautiously like a bird of prey around anyone he happened to cross paths with.  
>He was a young Cybertronian in his prime and shimmering with charm; a feature he took heavy advantage of to deceive those in his midst to doing what he wants.<p>

His habit of fabrication and lies was formed not long after his former master, Megatron, began to deteriorate in mentality; tiny white lies to his master explaining why he was not present for a meeting were the foundation of the 'empire of lies' he wound up swimming in at present.  
>Megatron thought they were amusing at first considering Starscreams youthful nature he assumed he would learn when to stop with them, but his second in commands long string of absences began to interfere with his sinister schemes, and the small grins and smirks from Megatron quickly began to take the shape of grimaces of shame and disgust.<p>

Cargo he was expected to deliver would turn up late, if at all. Information he was perfectly capable of obtaining would return incomplete or unreadable. Battles he could still fight in were quickly abandoned without the order from his master.  
>It was the ever-growing mountain of failures accompanied by his predictable and amateurish lies that pushed Megatron to breaking point; no longer would they be shrugged off or punished with a slap of the wrist.<p>

Megatron was about to get deathly serious.

Today Starscream had been running a few of the commoners errands, mainly monitoring sectors one through thirteen on Cybertron for any form of Autobot activity, stood in a dark chamber surrounded by countless monitors and computer interfaces; each monitor he happened to glance at was showing nothing, yet out of the corner of his wide-with-paranoia optics he could see activity on the other monitors, but by the time he turned to look at them to confirm his suspicions the 'activity' had gone.

His latest string of failures had netted him a handful of beatings from Megatron, with the most recent case landing him in the Repair Bay on sick-leave for two whole months to recover. The beatings to his comrades easily get the message across that they did something wrong, and they very rarely repeat their mistakes, but for some reason Starscream never learns his lesson; mistakes are repeated every mission, usually followed up with a hefty complaint that it was not his doing.  
>But the last two beatings he received from Megatron were not for failures or ignorance; they were for attempting to overthrow Megatron so he could claim Leadership of the Decepticons.<p>

Starscream was fortunate that Megatron took delight in witnessing his cowardice, and had a silent curiosity over what his young traitorous second in command would try next, that prevented him from simply being killed.  
>And today was one of Megatron's many attempts to get Starscream's mental-track out of seeking power and back into doing his job; the Seeker had earned no beating for attempting to shoot his master on the battlefield this day and had earned a simple task of Monitor Duty to, as Megatron put it, 'keep him out of the way'.<p>

The lack of a beating was the main reason behind Starscream's alert expression; optics wide and gleaming with terror, trying to focus on his job but at the same time dreading what may sneak up behind him, his hands trembling at the slightest sound that came from behind the doors to the room.  
>It required more concentration than his current level to watch all the monitors, and to raise any alarms should an Autobot suddenly appear on-screen, but everyone in the Decepticon ranks knew exactly what Starscreams primary goal in life was; self-preservation, above all else, to ensure that if he could not claim power today, he could still live to do it again tomorrow.<p>

His paranoia was crippling his standing with Megatron, as he was spending more time keeping his eyes peeled for the tyrant instead of his real targets; and this shone through once the trembling Cybertronian shifted his gaze to see if anyone was attempting to sneak up on him, and a trio of Autobots raided through one of the defences he should have been monitoring, and by the time he returned his watch to said monitors it was already too late.

Soundwave, the head of communications and infiltration, was watching the monitors alongside his other duties elsewhere; he had noticed the intruders and waited to see if Starscream would raise the alarm, but was disappointed to hear no word of warning from the Seeker and had to raise the alarm himself...a whole ten seconds later than it should have been sounded.

The instant the alarm was raised, Starscream sprung into a panic "Oh slag...slag...slag...How did I miss that? Soundwave will tell Megatron I made that blunder for sure!" he spoke aloud to himself; scratching his clawed fingers nervously against the computers keyboard, looking wide-eyed at all the monitors to see if he could detect where Megatron would be.  
>"I must find out where he is located and slow him down somehow, as I am sure he will come by here and request an explanation..." Starscream muttered, shakily typing into the computer to try and narrow down his search for the tyrant.<br>But the Seeker needn't look any farther than behind him, as unknowingly to him his master had feigned the supposed 'Autobot Raid' to test his little Seeker's mettle.

"Well then, Starscream; care to enlighten me as to why Soundwave was the one to sound the alarm for today's drill?" Megatron growled deeply, blocking the only exit option his second in command had.  
>The deep, almost rasping voice of his master immediately sent shivers down Starscreams spine; he recognized the tone in Megatron's question, remembering the events that unfolded the last time he heard his master speak to him directly in such a tone.<br>"I...uhhh...well..." the words simply would not roll out of his voice box, no matter how much he wanted them to since he was trembling far too much from fear to think up an excuse this time, and to heighten his anxiety levels he had kept his back turned on Megatron, hoping it would relieve him of his mounting fear somehow; but as he felt each tremor in the ground beneath him from Megatron's growing approach he couldn't help but sweat and feel weak in the knees, trying to fight the urge to look over his shoulder to make eye-contact in a pathetic gesture to seek forgiveness.  
>"Nothing? How...disappointing." Megatron muttered, placing his arms behind his back as he eyed Starscream's frail and submissive posture; taking noticeable interest in his lack of movement to confront his approach.<p>

Lying openly to others faces and making deals under the table was always easy for 'Screamer'; all it took was the seductive flick of the wrist and a charming batter of his eyelids to soften up even the most intimidating of business partners into cooperating. But deep down under that mask was a frail creature, hungering for power and a desire to cling onto the closest powerful figure for his self-preservation.  
>Megatron was aware of Starscreams true nature, and under normal circumstances he'd have been happy to rip out the traitorous Seekers Spark and be done with him; but Starscream was young and had potential to be moulded into someone he could make use of, and he was his form of amusement in the ranks.<br>He was his little mouse to pester and torment with the routine of 'point the gun in his face and never pull the trigger if he begs.'  
>Amusing as he was in his current state, Starscream would be far more valuable if he got his act together and pulled his own weight; Megatron had been pondering over the idea of temporary exile for some time now, curios to see if it would toughen Starscream up or cause him to crawl into the nearest corner and die.<br>Either result would be entertaining, but only one would be productive.

"Starscream; for too long have I idled by, allowing your antics to go on without adequate punishment..."

The Seeker began trembling once more, already not liking where Megatrons lecture was going , but more-so that he could feel his masters presence dangerously close to his own.

"The little lies you threw out every mission have grown tiresome, this you already are aware of...at least that is what I hope you are aware of." Megatron informed quietly, skimming a claw along the outskirts of Starscreams right wing-blade "...but your attempts to extinguish my Spark, to usurp control of the Decepticons, have also grown tiresome; and it has led me to wonder if you truly have any place in our ranks anymore."  
>Starscream swallowed deeply, his entire body now trembling in fear as he steadily began to realize that Megatron was hinting at relieving him of duty, permanently.<p>

"No comment? This is not like you, Starscream." Megatron chuckled, moving around the Seeker slowly easing the terrified creatures burden, only to drag him right back into the fray of panic by grasping his throat and pulling him from the computer terminal "M-master; please!" Starscream begged, clawing desperately under Megatron's tightening grip "I-I mean no disrespect! I w-was only just-"  
>"-<em>silence!<em> You're a liability, Starscream!" Megatron roared, causing his catch to fall deathly quiet in terror "Until you prove yourself worthy, by being useful to the Decepticon cause, then you will not be permitted access to our base of operations! Do I make myself clear?"  
>Starscream weakly nods as a reply, with little other options besides having his Spark ripped clean from his chest that is "Good...now we can't have you wandering over to the Autobots to do further damage to our current standing in the war, so you will be escorted to the Space Bridge for transportation off Cybertron."<br>Megatron loosened his grip slightly, allowing Starscream to pull himself free from the grip of the Leader's claws and attempt recovery from that terrifying grasp he was held with.

Once at a safer distance, Starscream felt a slither of his confidence return, but it was as usual around at the wrong moment "Master...might I please request you to reconsider..."  
>Seemingly out of nowhere, one of Megatron's clawed hands came lashing forwards; striking Starscream across the face "Do not attempt to modify this offer I have made you! It is either <em>exile<em>, or _death_! And I could very easily crush you into a mound of scrap metal right where you stand!"  
>Starscream steps back, placing a hand against his scratch-wound as he staggered from the hit; lifting his brow into a look of pity, which use to work on Megatron in the past, but these days <em>that look netted him in positions he never wanted to be in.<em>

"You hold that look one micro-second longer and I will break you until you hold true to your name of 'Starscream'" Megatron hissed, causing Starscream to immediately turn his expression elsewhere.  
>As young as he may be in comparison to Megatron, and even Soundwave, Starscream was not as strong in physicality as he should have been at his current point of development; his claws were razor-sharp, his optics were large and he had remarkable speed on his side, but amongst fellow Decepticons at his age he was weak. A simple strike across the face from Megatron that startled or lightly scratched any other Decepticon became a set of deep and painful claw marks for Starscream, which would remain sore and stinging for many days.<br>Starscream lightly bobbed his head at his master, refusing to make direct eye-contact in fear of obtaining another strike to the face, as he felt the tyrannous Decepticon Leader eyeing him once more for further weakness or even if the young Seeker dared to make a move against him.

"Soundwave will escort you to the Space Bridge within the hour; do not bother gathering any tools or equipment, you will be going empty-handed" the leader growled, turning towards the doors to make his departure once he determined the Seeker had no malicious thoughts at present "...and Starscream; ensure that you do as instructed. If I hear word from Soundwave that you didn't show up, or turned-tail and fled, I will hunt you down and destroy you."  
>Starscream shuddered at those last words as his master finally left the room, allowing him to tend to his scratched face and damaged pride in peace. He wasn't going to argue with Megatron about the offer again since it did appear to move in his favour; but being the ever self-conscious creature he is, he couldn't help but speculate over what the exile would do to him.<br>Since he was only recruited some five Earth-years back from that dull position as Sentinel Primes bodyguard, he had no idea what he would do without the Decepticons and its cause behind him.

Deception and guile were once the way of all that called themselves 'Decepticon'; what they couldn't win through charm amongst their ranks, they won through trickery or brute strength. But now the Decepticons who possessed no brute strength at all and relied heavily on their wits and charm where all gone; lost to the stars in exile, or lying dead as piles of scrap in the battlefields.

Would the Space Bridge lead him to a world, barren of Energon sources or life in any form, or would it take him to a place full of mystery and magic?  
>Only Megatron knew where it would take his little Seeker friend, and he was going to make sure that if Starscream didn't improve in exile, that it would stay a one-way-ticket with no way for him to come back. And Megatron had his eyes set on a small, dusty rock called Earth, after all; what possible harm could a fool like Starscream cause there?<p>

Once his wound was tended to, Starscream departed from the Monitoring Chamber and strolled down to his quarters; already defying Megatrons order of not bothering to take anything with him. He had one item on the agenda to grab hold of before he went anywhere, and no one was going to tell him otherwise.  
>Starscream slipped into his chamber via the supposed sliding doors, which had become jammed shut after a conflict with fellow young Decepticon Seekers and needed to be opened manually by hand; once he had forced the doors open and stepped inside he was quick to begin his search for the tools he needed.<br>But in order to ensure little to no argument with Megatron he had to travel light, by taking small supplies he could hide on his body, and amongst those supplies were two weapons; a foldable bow that he could hide on his back with accompanying arrows, and a small wrist blade called a Shiv.  
>The bow and arrows were handy for dealing damage from hiding spots, since Starscream knew he wasn't much of a good hand-to-hand fighter, and they made less noise than the usual rockets he'd normally have on his forearms. As for the Shiv, it was self-explanatory if you had the same mentality as the devious and cunning Seeker; hide it within a compartment in the wrist, entice the target to get close to your person and then strike.<br>The Shiv worked only once on Megatron and since then the tyrant was always cautious to let Starscream too close to him without having his wrist compartments checked beforehand; a Shiv only had enough strength in its sleek shape to be used successfully once, as after the first use it became too blunt to use or sometimes even broke clean in half.  
>But finding the Shiv collection he'd made, amongst the masses of paperwork and other idle mess he had lying around his chamber, would be difficult if not impossible.<p>

On one side of the room was a large pile of papers and digital-notepads, all taking the shape of what appeared to be a computer terminal that was no longer being used for work and had instead become the resting place of unfinished documents or research papers, whilst the other side of the room had stacks of boxes and old ammunition crates that lay empty.  
>But finally, after scurrying through his paperwork and the supposed empty boxes, Starscream found his stockpile of Shivs inside a box that had been buried by his discarded paperwork.<p>

"Just one Shiv wouldn't keep me going should I encounter hostiles at this new world, but I can only hide two of them on my body at any one time." Starscream muttered to himself, slipping a Shiv neatly into both of his wrist compartments, wincing from discomfort as it limited the amount of viable movement he could do with his wrists. Obtaining his bow and arrows and neatly hiding them on his back was quick to accomplish, as was finding the other bits and pieces the young Seeker needed.  
>With what little articulation he had left in his wrists, Starscream whipped out a mental checklist of things he needed to take with him "Archery tools, check. Shivs, check. Energon Radar, check. Micro-Computer, check. Medical kit, no."<br>It had already taken him an hour to find everything he needed so far, but the medical kit was too large to hide on his body and he'd already run out of time to look for it. So he decided to take a risk and leave it behind, and was quick to ensure it was all well hidden on his body by the time Soundwave had arrived.  
>The communications specialist forced open the broken doors to Starscreams chamber and entered with a heavy thud as his arced legs held the chamber doors open, catching the Seeker unawares and locking him in a mental panic as he crouched down at the far left corner of the room.<br>Once inside Soundwave lowered his head, locking his sights on Starscream with his iconic cold and empty stare; Starscream mentally shivered as he stared back at the silent Decepticon, feeling Soundwaves hidden optics scanning his body for any potentially hidden threats. It was for this reason alone that the young Decepticon chose to remain perfectly still and most important of all, remain silent.

Soundwave ceased his quiet watching and turned to leave the room, shooting another glare once he realized Starscream had not yet removed himself from his current position in the corner of the chamber. Starscream raised his hands in defeat and slowly stood upright.  
>"Alright, alright! I'm coming." Starscream whined, lowering his hands and head to return an equally cold stare back to the silent Decepticon standing in his chamber doorway.<br>Silence was Soundwaves most powerful mental asset, since Decepticons of all ages and genders knew that he had information on everyone both openly and secretly, and they dared not cross paths with him for fear of certain secrets suddenly being exposed by him.  
>As soon as Soundwave felt certain that Starscream was not carrying anything, and that he was going to follow him to the Space Bridge, he turned his back on the Seeker and began to take his leave.<br>Starscream was quick to make another mental check of what he had that he needed before he departed from his chambers; his head low and shoulder slumped upwards but tilted back, allowing him to eye those he passed without feeling their optics staring back at him.

_"This exile nonsense is probably a façade for Megatrons true intentions to extinguish my Spark…but luckily I have come prepared, and that creep Soundwave hasn't taken much notice of my hidden tools."_ Starscream thought quietly to himself as he continued to follow close behind the blue chassis of Soundwave _"He may see and hear many things, but even he is blind to my own handiwork at times. If he noticed the bow and arrows he certainly hasn't noticed the Shiv's I have tucked under my wrists. So if he does not check my compartments…and if Megatron presents himself closer to me than usual, I may just be fortunate enough to plant them both into his Spark and put him down for good."  
><em>The Seeker chuckled quietly to himself, not noticing Soundwave sneak a glance over his shoulder to stare behind him at what Starscream was chuckling about; and in almost an instant the blue Decepticon stopped walking, slamming a foot down to snap Starscream out of his track of thought, before mimicking said Seekers posture and staring directly at him.  
>Again Starscream felt Soundwave mentally scanning his physique for hidden weapons, and this time he had taken notice of a stray arrow that had exposed itself from its hiding spot thanks to Starscreams poor posture.<br>Soundwave didn't need to even say a word, or gesture to the arrow, for Starscream to know that he had found it.  
>"Oh this? Well…I figured our Lord Megatron wouldn't want me to leave without some form of weaponry to defend myself with." Starscream purred, lifting his head and posture slightly to prevent Soundwave from pulling the arrow from its sheathed spot.<br>The Seeker slipped around his fellow Decepticon smoothly, with them both locking their sights on one another; Soundwave remaining completely silent, whilst Starscream remained chuckling and purring quietly to himself.

This time Starscream was up front, with Soundwave following behind to keep his eyes on the now identified weaponry on his back; Starscream didn't move forwards to just avoid Soundwaves grasp on his prized bow and arrows, he did it to make sure said Decepticon felt reassurance that he could see all movements Starscream made anywhere near the weapons in Megatrons presence.  
>Fortunately for both parties that Megatron was not at the Space Bridge, but he already had locked the coordinates to drop Starscream off on Earth; it was just a matter of Soundwave turning the machine on and pushing the Seeker through the portal if needs be.<br>The Space Bridge that Starscream was taken to was far smaller than the usual terminal, and it was situated on Cybertron itself instead of in space like most of the others; for this reason alone the terminal was heavily guarded by armed brute-level Decepticons to ensure no Autobot could rush into the vicinity and make off with the technology.

Although he was disappointed that Megatron was not around to plant a Shiv or two into, Starscream was relieved that what he was getting here was exile and not an execution. He had no idea where he was going, and in all honesty he didn't really care, as Megatron had overlooked one vital trait Starscream had which could cause the entire purpose of the exile to fail.  
>The Space Bridge technology was designed by a Decepticon called Shockwave, but was memorized and refined by Starscream. If any Cybertronian still functional knew anything about Space bridges it was him and Shockwave.<br>But Shockwave was not on Cybertron anymore; nobody knew what happened to him after he decided to test a set of Space Bridge coordinates by himself to see where they took him, so the only other master of the technology was Starscream. Of course, Soundwave knew a great deal about the machine as well, and Megatron believed that the communication specialist knew far more than Starscream ever did about them.  
>Another one of his lies Starscream told was that he didn't know how to build Space Bridges, but did know how to operate them, was yet another lucky decision he made; as if Megatron knew his troublesome Seeker could return anytime he wanted from exile, then there would have been no point in sending him away at all, and executing him would have been a far better option.<p>

Soundwave nudges Starscream forcefully to the small Space Bridge portal as it opened, still remaining silent as the Seeker began growling deeply to himself and refusing to move any further "I wanted to see Megatron before I leave, so where is he?" the Seeker snapped, turning to face Soundwave to display his anger. But before he could even fully turn around, Soundwave had lunged forwards and rammed into his body, pushing Starscream into the portal before he could even react to the impact.  
>Soundwave was quick to regain his footing and prevented being transported away himself, and remained staring in silence as he watched the portal slowly close into nothingness, his task of ensuring Starscream was evicted through it to the designated coordinates now complete.<p>

-End of part 1-


	2. Chapter 2 Arrival

Sinister Schemings and Dodgy Dealings

CHAPTER 2 – Arrival

Whilst Starscream was being transported into exile, feeling that Megatron was only doing this to bully him, there was another individual from a very different side of space going through the exact same procedure; only this exile was for a far more evil and devious act than anything Starscream pulled off back on his home planet.  
>A demigod known as Loki was in exile as well, for invading the planet Earth and attempting to harness the power of a stolen artefact that belonged to his adoptive father Odin Allfather; the current king of the mysterious world (or 'realm') Asgard.<br>Slipping and sliding through the rifts of time and space was Loki's favourite pastime with the exception of forming up schemes and plots; he enjoyed opening one portal from his home world of Asgard and then appearing elsewhere to torment natives of other worlds.  
>And his latest trip to another world was his greatest so far; to obtain the mystical magic harnessed within an object known only as the Tesseract, a power which would grant him the ability to transport his acclaimed 'army' to invade Earth with and make it his own kingdom. It was truly brilliant, and it would have been successful if it wasn't for a handful of freaks and misfits that tore it to pieces.<p>

The Avengers; a group formed by the Leader of SHIELD, Nick Fury, held people of highly skilled techniques and knowledge in science, all the way to super humans and monsters. Loki hated them all for what they did to his wonderful plan, but there was one of them he hated the most; his own adoptive brother, Thor Odinson.  
>Not only did Loki feel somewhat different to his older brother, he also felt a great deal of shame and disgust for what had transpired between them over the course of five Earth years; how Thor became so 'soft' for an Earth woman, learning compassion and to be less selfish, which further pushed Loki into the shadows of his former self. Before the fighting really started to heat up between the two, Loki saw himself as Thor's shadow; able to stick close to him but never stand beside him, or be truly noticed in their endeavours together.<br>But now things were far different than before; Loki's plan had failed, he tasted Asgardian justice, and now he was stranded on Earth with very limited powers and under SHIELDs constant watch. Odin thought letting Loki live with some form of restraint like Thor did might build his character, make him see the error of his ways…but much like any scolded child, Loki was not going to do any of that.

He had taken up residence under one of the very Avengers wings, to do as his father wished to avoid a much harsher punishment, and he decided to play along with it for curiosities sake; but one thing he couldn't quite understand at first was why they had assigned Tony Stark to be his mentor and not the more noble Steve Rodgers. After all; Tony Stark wasn't exactly the best choice in terms of ideology or common decency, but Loki admitted that Tony did have all the technology to keep him in check should things suddenly take a turn for the worst again.  
>And things were going to get worse again, very quickly…<p>

Loki had been stripped of his Asgardian clothing during his exile, and was left to wear whatever Tony had on hand at the time; a pair of loose, black suit pants accompanied by a button-up shirt that was also loose were the only things in Tony's wardrobe that could even stay on Loki's far slender and skinny body without the need of bracers. Although the clothes were uncomfortably loose, rubbing on his skin and getting caught on doors, with him having to often hold the pants up by hand whenever he decided to walk, but they were better than walking around in the nude or in an eyesore of a spandex outfit he'd seen a new Avengers recruit wearing.  
>The clothes were just the start of his run of annoyances today though, as Tony had left him to be supervised by Bruce Banner whilst he was out testing the latest modifications to his Ironman suit; Bruce wasn't the type to let Loki wander up to anything he pleased to see what it would do, fearing he might break something, so Loki had to put up with the constant "do not touch that" nonsense ringing through his ears.<br>Bruce even got sick of following Loki around, and told him to do his 'learning' through watching human Television; at first Loki didn't know what to make of it, finding how 'watered-down' everything was to be rather offensive to his intelligence, but the mood quickly shifted to serious curiosity once he'd found the news and documentary channels. Heck, even Bruce was shocked to find Loki so interested in the "box with moving pictures inside" after a while.  
>The god of mischief had taken a liking to the news channel; mainly laughing at how pathetic human beings were and mocking the way humans controlled their so called society, the only real reports he took seriously were the weather…and a recent report of abnormal activity sighted just outside of the very city he was staying in.<p>

"You're quiet all of a sudden…" Bruce began, wandering over to the sofa Loki had parked his hide on to watch the TV "…and usually that means you're up to something." He finished, looking down at the talented liar sat on the sofa.  
>Loki shifted his gaze towards Bruce and sniggered, before returning his eyes towards to monitor "For once, you're wrong; look at the box, and tell me what you see." Loki informed, nodding towards the monitor; Bruce shifted his line of sight from Loki to the TV, taking notice of the headline 'UFO crash sighted outside of Manhattan'. The images showed a small suburb had been completely levelled by the crash, with a massive crater in the centre and tangled metal and debris being around the outside of the blast zone indicating a mass of heat was created upon impact.<br>Once he was certain Tony had something to do with it, being out testing his new Ironman modifications, he rushed to his cell phone and dialled his number; leaving Loki to continue watching the television and listening to the reports.

_"Phone calls came in at approximately 7:20am this morning of strange weather activity surrounding the area, before the known impact, but nobody at the weather office had anything to say about it." _A policeman stated on the TV _"Everything looked normal in terms of the weather to the radar, but there was a strange surge of unidentifiable energy in the upper Earth atmosphere; it looked like some kind of invisible vortex on the scans we picked up from space but it was gone before we could fully analyse the phenomenon."  
><em>Loki raised a brow at that final shred of information; an invisible vortex of energy? There and gone in a flash? Levelling an entire settlement? It all sounded very suspicious to him, if not highly tempting to investigate. And the next statement made on the report would cause that temptation to skyrocket.

_"Similar activity was reported at Puente Antiguo in New Mexico nearly four months ago; a large vortex appeared in the open desert just outside of the town, creating a large amount of force on impact that could be heard from several miles away. Photographs taken by citizens, alongside witness testimony who claimed a large mechanical creature came from the centre of the disturbance, started a hype of suspicion that the vortex was the result of alien activity. Special forces have already arrived at the site and have begun evacuating citizens just outside of the impact zone…"_

Loki shifted his gaze over his shoulder to look at Bruce, who was still trying to contact Tony Stark using his cell phone; so far Bruce was just being put on hold, since Tony was already talking to someone else it seemed, which granted Loki the chance to keep listening to the report without any distractions._  
>Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep.<br>Click._

"Heyuup." Finally Tony answered his phone, with the sound of wind rushing across the microphone being heard. Bruce let out a loud sigh of relief, knowing Tony was not injured or worse; dead in that horrible crater.

"Tony, where are you? I've been trying to call you but it kept sending me to your answering machine." Bruce asked with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"I'm on a jet, mingling with tourists from China." Tony teased, a slight chuckle being detected before he continued "Anyway, seriously, I'm just heading back to the Tower now."  
>"Have you heard what's happened on the news?" Bruce asked, looking towards Loki again who was still staring at the monitor, totally entranced by the images.<br>Or so Bruce thought, anyway.

"Steve called me a few minutes ago about seeing something, but he's still not use to the cell phone business so he hung up before he could tell me, then I got your call." Tony began "So spill it; has our pet escaped and blown someone up?"  
>"No, he's sat watching the news right now. We just saw footage of some kind of crash site outside of Manhattan; three, maybe four, blocks were vaporised and the block outside of the crash was blasted by radiation." Bruce informed, keeping his eyes on Loki still.<p>

"Before you ask, no, it wasn't me. I'm talking to you now, which means I'm not dead in that crater." Tony mocked, only to be interrupted by Bruce "They're calling it a UFO crash, Tony."  
>Then, a long pause of silence from Tony's end of the call.<br>"Tony? Are you still there?" Bruce asked in a worried tone; it was another minute before he got a reply back, since Tony had to think about that last statement Bruce just made about a 'possible UFO'.  
>"I'm going over to have a look now. Whatever you do; don't let the kid out of the house, alright?" Tony requested boldly.<br>"No, Tony, wait! We need to contact the others before-"  
><em>Click.<br>Beep, beep "the number you have dialled is currently busy. After the tone, please leave a message."_

Bruce hangs up on his phone and sighs heavily, rubbing his head with his head lowered; Loki had turned to stare at him during the phone call when things were heating up between Tony and Bruce, taking the opportunity to sneak out of the room before the call was finished. So once Bruce had calmed himself down and looked up to where Loki once was sat on the sofa, he instead found an empty seat and the shoes Tony had left for him to be gone.

"Oh no." Bruce Banner muttered to himself.

-

"Wow…Pepper thought the Tower was a mess…" Tony awed; the crater was large, around the size one would expect from a small aircraft collision from space, and looking down at the centre of the impact in his Ironman suit Tony was starting to believe in the concept of a UFO crash.  
>He was safe from the radiation providing he stayed in the suit entirely, whilst other members of SHIELD had to wear special radiation suits to protect themselves with, but something else they had found by the crater was more worrying than the radiation.<p>

"Mr Stark; over here. I need to talk to you about something we discovered." Came a familiar voice, from none other than Dr. Erik Selvig himself; sporting a protective radiation suit with a handful of sample packages.  
>Dr. Erik Selvig had teamed up with SHIELD to perform further research into the concept of space-travel and harnessing mystical energies, to allow Thor to commute between Asgard and Earth without needing to bring a hazardous artefact like the Tesseract back into the planet's atmosphere.<br>Once Tony had caught sight of Erik calling him over he was quick to approach; if anyone had any idea of what was going on besides SHIELD's very 'hush-hush' alien research department (known only as S7), it would have to be Erik.

"We found a few fragments of metal in the crater amongst a strange glowing liquid outside of it, which we confirmed to be the source of the radiation." Erik began, showing Tony the sample bags of metal fragments accompanied by a test tube filled with a bluish glowing liquid; Tony remained silent for a moment, taking more interest in the liquid than the metal fragments, and awaited any further details from Erik about what that stuff was "…we don't know what this liquid is, since we lack the right facilities to test it out here, and it's too radioactive to test at our main lab."  
>"Let me guess; you won't let me look at it either." Tony interrupted.<br>Under normal circumstances Erik would have allowed Tony to take away a portion of the sample for his own analysis, but this liquid was far too valuable and dangerous to be handled by just anyone; certain protocol had to be followed in its handling, and Erik was already breaking protocol by allowing Tony to see it "…that's right. We can't allow you to take away a part of this sample; however…" Erik began, handing over one of the many metal fragment samples to the man in the iron suit "…you can take a sample of this metal. It isn't a hazard to biological life forms, according to our radiation scanner it isn't emitting anything on the same scale as this liquid."

Tony raised a brow behind his iron mask, happily taking the sample to examine it closer with his built-in scanning equipment; the fragment looked like any ordinary silver-tinted metal at a distance, but under magnification Tony saw that what he had in his hands was more than the regular human-eye could decipher.  
>The fragment was coated in a very small amount of the blue liquid, which Erik and his S7 investigators may not have noticed, but what perked Tony's curiosity was something Erik told him just moments ago; none of the metal fragments had the same level of radiation compared to the blue liquid, yet this fragment had some of the substance coating it.<br>"Director Nick Fury said you should take that sample away and look at it with Banner, to see if it can shed some light on what's been going on around here; god knows we need all the help we can get solving this mystery, so I'm not going to argue with him about it." Erik sighed as he turned to place the remaining samples into a special briefcase, with the tube of blue liquid being put into a separate biohazard container to be looked at later. Tony would have mentioned he'd made a discovery already from the fragment, but he also had a feeling that Erik would take it off his hands if he knew it was coated in the same substance that he was not even supposed to show him.  
>So once Erik had returned to his work, Tony pocketed the sample and began examining the rest of the crash site alone; making mental notes as well as discreet photographs of the crater and surrounding wreckage.<p>

At the centre of the site was a perfect circular-crater, indicating the supposed 'UFO' crashed from directly above rather than at an angle; there was also a dark patch in the soil nearby the crater indicating a splatter of liquid once lied there, with every drop possible extracted by the determined S7 investigators by now.  
>But what really caught Tony's eye at the crash site was that splatter didn't appear to be caused by, say, an injury in the crash or the exploding of the ship, since the sheer size of the puddle was far larger than any known living organism to allow the individual to survive; as for the concept of the ship exploding, there just wasn't any consistency in the angle of the crater and the angle of the splatter. To Tony Stark; it looked more like whatever crashed here was alive, and expelled the liquid in some kind of vomiting. If that was the case, what they were looking for (if they were going to look for it) was big.<br>VERY big.

At that exact moment in his line of thought; Tony received a call from none other than Director Nick Fury himself. He hesitated to answer at first, wondering if he'd be asking him annoying questions about what his thoughts were on the fragment and crash site, but he knew that Nick also was the boss of the whole operation and needed to have his calls answered ASAP.  
><em>Click.<em>

"Stark…we have a major problem down here that we need you to help us deal with."

-

Starscream hated walking with a passion; he also hated being catapulted through space at hundreds of thousands of miles per second, then having to adjust to the perfect stillness again once his travel was over. The speed of riding the Space Bridge was always thrilling and filled him with excitement when used normally, but he was kicked through against his will and was unprepared for the journey; his stomach (known in the Cybertronian term as a 'processor') couldn't handle the trip, and once he'd reached his destination the first thing he did was hurl up his recently consumed Energon.  
>Young Cybertronians didn't travel that well on the Space Bridge anyway; their bodies were just not strong enough for such a strenuous journey, and the common reaction a juvenile would make after a trip would be to either feint or throw up. But he was different.<br>Before he'd have trouble focusing his vision, bordering on feinting, but he never actually did feint or throw up; he'd trained himself to deal with the pressures experienced in Space Bridge travels, so this little blunder tarnished his once perfect travel record. Starscream was thoroughly ashamed, and was feeling weaker than ever because of that experience.  
>Not only had the trip made him feel weaker mentally, but also physically; that recent vomiting had emptied his Energon supply, and he was now running on emergency reserves to even walk, since he lacked the right level of fuel to transform and fly to where he wanted to go.<p>

_"Speaking of which…I wonder where I am, exactly…" _the slender Seeker thought, traversing through the remains of a park that had been cornered-off by S7 troops to prevent civilians from straying into the radioactive zones.  
>It was empty of any life thanks to the blast; with trees stripped bare of their leaves and charred black in the direction of the impact site, grass burnt to a crispy black and brown mass, and any creatures caught in the blast were preserved in the exact positions they were when hit by the heat and radiation in a burnt-black shell.<br>The scenery within the radiation zone wasn't pretty, but the lighting wasn't that fantastic either; in the centre of the crash all the clouds had been pushed away to the outskirts of the zone, and most of the debris that was shot into the air was raining down as ash from those clouds causing the environment to enter a dark and grey condition.

Starscream waved a clawed hand in front of his face, wafting the stench of burning flesh and vegetation from his scent sensors (nose) as the combination began to make his processor churn once more, but in disgust this time "ugh, what creatures create such a revolting stench after a little explosion?" he scowled, shuddering once he caught the scent on his cybernetic tongue "Primus…this place is just crawling with filth!"  
>Cybertron had its fair-share of corpses littering the surface and down in its many crevices, but the stench of burning oils and circuitry was nowhere near as bad as the smell of a dead (and especially burnt to death) organic. As for the soil and common Earthanoid littering, that just further heightened his disgust, and he was dreading meeting an organic in person after catching a whiff of them when they'd been burnt to death; because if they smell bad in this state, he wondered, would they smell bad when they're perfectly healthy? Another shudder ran down his spine at the thought.<p>

His trip through the park felt far longer than it really was, most likely due to the horrible smells and sights he was seeing around him, but that lack of Energon was also making him feel a tad bit sluggish. He felt some form of relief once he'd departed from the park onto concrete surfaces of sidewalks and roads, but that relief was short lived once he saw before him a large line of flashing lights atop large black cars and vans; he didn't hear any activity on his way over to his current destination, but as soon as he'd pushed past the trees separating the park from the street he was hit by a barricade of sound and had a large spot-light shone right in his face.

"Good god, what is that thing?" cried a voice, with the Cybertronian unable to see the creature that spoke thanks to the glaring lights now upon him; he had to shield his eyes from the source of the light, because it was making his optics dilate to a painful state, and his only source of shielding himself was with his massive clawed hands "you there! W-whatever you are! Lower your weapons!" cried another voice, obviously depicting the startled Seeker's hands as weapons.  
>And in a way they were right; Starscream's whole body was a weapon, but thanks to his youth and inexperience he hadn't learnt that himself just yet. His training with Megatron in dealing with none-Cybertronian life-forms was brutal, bordering on barbaric; assess the situation, take advantage of any none-hostiles by studying them for weak spots, then crush them.<br>But so far in his training he hadn't learnt how to deal with Organics such as human beings…or even Asgardians; this was outside of his comfort zone, and he didn't know how he was supposed to handle it besides the only way he knew how to from his teachings.  
>So he lowered his hands, narrowing his eyes to minimise the level of pain he was getting from the horrifically bright lights, to try and assess the situation just as Megatron taught him to do.<br>But he could hardly see anything, and was starting to feel anxious as he heard more voices he couldn't identify.

"That thing is not one of Starks toys; where the hell did it come from?" called out a loud voice in an angry tone, which Starscream assumed was the leader of the group when comparing the voice with the others he heard, which all sounded like lackeys to him "It came from the park, sir. W-we don't know what it is sir; we've called some S7 a-agents to come down here and provide support in detaining it, sir" replied one of the lackeys.  
><em>"Capture me, Starscream? These creatures seem to think they're capable of anything; a grave mistake when they don't understand who their adversary is." <em>The Seeker thought, raising a hand again to shield his eyes with, only to hear the sound of multiple firearms being loaded and the loud call of another lackey telling him to 'lower his weapons' again.  
>"Move that light a bit and it won't need to cover its eyes with those 'weapons'. It clearly understands English, and appears to be none-hostile." The leader informed, causing the Seeker to chuckle at the claim that he was 'none-hostile' even though the lights were still causing him a fair bit of pain.<br>But Starscream felt a wave of relief as the largest spotlight that was blinding him was moved aside, granting him a clear view of the creatures he'd stumbled onto in better detail; there were countless numbers of them behind many cars and other ground vehicles as cover, with their small weapons aimed directly towards him, though a small number of the organics appeared to be unarmed and operating the spotlights instead.  
>The organic that the Seeker noticed right away was a large ethnic male with an eye patch, with visible scarring seeping out from beneath the patch; he was dressed differently to the others, who all had the standard military-like black outfits one would expect from a SHIELD agent. The organic was also acting far less intimidated by Starscreams presence, and had even decided to venture from behind the security of the cars.<p>

"Do you speak English?" the creature asked, eyeing Starscream carefully with his hands behind his back "…the Universal Language is known to all my kind, fleshling." He replied with a light hiss.  
>The organic raised its eyebrows; obviously intrigued by his response, but he said nothing else "…you do not seem afraid, little creature. You have seen my kind before, yes?" Starscream accentuated his 's' into a much longer hiss, lightly lowering his head and perking up his wings as he grew more curious.<br>"We have not seen your kind, no. But you're not the first Extraterrestrial we've encountered, especially one that seems to defy our logic." The organic replied "…and those other Extraterrestrials, or 'aliens', we encountered that turned out to be hostile were dealt with; we can and will defend ourselves if we or our world are threatened. So do we fear you? No; we have no need to."  
>Starscream lowered his head further, almost arching his body downwards into a deep slouch to express his curiosity "I see…I find that fascinating…that such small creatures can claim to be capable of defending themselves against any and all odds."<br>"Its visitors from outer-space, with that exact same line of thinking, which we end up kicking back to where they belong." The creature informed, placing his hands in front of him now "…we've told you a bit about our kind, now will you tell us where you have come from and what your business on Earth is?"

Starscream would have answered the organics request, but he was too busy following his routine of assessment, identifying and executing to bother with that answer. The humans were growing more nervous as the Seeker's posture indicated he was clearly 'reading them', but wasn't saying anything to them.  
><em>"Hmmm…I see a major flaw in their physical structure…one step from my foot could easily kill them." <em>He thought, smirking deviously as he continued to assess _"They also rely heavily on small projectile bullets, not lasers or photons…so I would sustain very little damage should they decide to open fire on me. Getting by them should be no problem at all."_  
>The organic was growing impatient, if not starting to seriously suspect the metallic giant's motives "If you don't know what I'm asking, then I'll put it bluntly for you; do you come in peace?" he asked loudly, causing Starscream's wings to perk upright to their default position.<br>His head remained low, but now his look of curiosity had shifted to that of disgust.  
>"I did not choose to come here, so did I come peacefully? No; I came against my will in a burning channel of raw, fiery energy that surged out of control and destroyed my only source of returning from where I came from. I am furious! Enraged! I come in ANGER, and will terminate anyone who does not get out of my way!" he rasped, exposing his clawed fingers.<br>The gesture of exposing his claws was a sign of hostility, yes, but it was enough to provoke the S7 and SHIELD soldier-rank agents to begin firing their weapons at him; his theory that their weapons would be harmless proved true, so in one fell swoop Starscream took advantage of the situation and charged through the barricade, flipping and tossing cars and any organics that got in his way.

The leader was quick to react to Starscream's advances, and moved out of the metal giants way once he began his charge; opening up a communications link with one of his operatives to help bring down the now identified threat.

"Stark…we have a major problem down here that we need you to help us deal with." The leader, now confirmed to be none other than Director of SHIELD Nick Fury, requested loudly into his headset. Starscream was not moving around to seek out and destroy, and was only striking at things that were in his way, but he was still dangerous and needed to be brought under control.  
>"Major problem, huh? Does it have something to do with that crash you were so informative about?" Tony teased over the communicator.<br>Nick Fury didn't even flinch a hint of changing his expression, or tone of voice, at Tony Starks suggestion that he knew about the crash before anyone else did. In actual truth, Nick Fury DID know the crash was going to happen. He knew roughly an hour before the crash, but never sent out word to anyone according to several SHIELD operatives' knowledge…thanks to the all too secretive S7 group.  
>S7 may have ties to SHIELD, but they are in their own way an independent group with a simple affiliation tag; it was no surprise to Nick or any SHIELD agent either that S7 knew about this event, and that they were trying to keep it secret, since very similar cases (of aliens appearing and disappearing on Earth) were common to them and were usually dealt with right away.<br>But this case was different; S7 didn't evacuate the site before the impact claiming a bomb-alert or gas-leak…there was nothing at all, and this made Nick Fury feel all the more suspicious as to why S7's real lead operatives were not at the crash site or at the blockades.  
>Where are the lead operatives? Why was there no alarm raised before impact? No cover-up story sent to reporters? This all was very unlike S7, and once Starscream was contained and under SHIELD's watch Nick Fury was going to get those answers he was looking for.<br>"We don't have time for games, Stark. Get down here right away and be prepared for a fight, preferably none-lethal. This guy is big and packs a mean punch, but something is not right about him, and S7's response to his arrival is suspicious." Nick Fury informed, hearing Tony Stark chuckle lightly on the other end of the call.  
>"Alright, I'm on my way now. Shoot to stun, but not kill. A little zap from a taser should put him to sleep just like a princess." He teased again, with sounds of him flying now being heard over the speaker "The guy is made of metal, that won't work Stark." Nick sighed "bullets don't work either, so try a laser or bright lights. He doesn't seem to react too well to them."<br>Nick Fury heard a very feint 'mhmm' as a reply, and sighed once again.

"We need to bring that guy in before S7 makes a claim on him…so be quick, Tony." 


	3. Chapter 3 Kindred Spirits

_(AUTHORS NOTE:_ _Sorry for the long gaps between each chapter; I'm juggling fan-fictions here and on DeviantArt, along with the original novels I am writing. It's a bad habit, I know, but thank you for being patient!)_

Sinister Schemings and Dodgy Dealings

CHAPTER 3 – Kindred Spirits

Tony Stark was quick to reach the encounter zone to meet up with Nick Fury thanks to his new boosters. But no matter how quick he was flying to the scene, it was not fast enough to stop the enraged metallic alien from causing widespread destruction and chaos; a majority of the area had been engulfed in smoke and fire, with SHIELD and S7 agents alike rescuing their colleagues from the flames.  
>And Director Nick Fury was nowhere in sight. Tony thought at first that he had gone back to base to be debriefed, or to warn the other members of SHIELD of this new threat, but he saw one of the many agents below gesturing to him that he should move further west "the Director grabbed a jeep and went after the monster! You have to go help him, Tony!" called the agent. "I'm guessing I just follow the trail of smoke, fire and screaming people?" Tony muttered with a sigh, turning towards the path of destruction to continue his mission.<p>

As Tony flew west, following the debris path and roads littered with broken up vehicles and homes set ablaze, he began to see further evidence at how large the creature that caused the mess was; if his idea of the creatures height was right, then bringing it down with non-lethal force would be difficult for him.  
>And the further he flew the worse the damage became. It was as if the creature became angrier and more destructive as a result the further it trekked, but one thing that caught Mr Stark's eye was the lack of human bodies in the wreckage; in fact, all the humans he saw in the streets were alive and well, minus a few burns and injuries caused by the fires.<br>He'd have stopped to put out the fires, but the Fire Department was already on the scene doing their job, and the more delays he had the further away the creature was getting. However, one delay was unavoidable; Tony caught sight of the jeep Nick Fury had been using, erupted in flames and partially crushed, with the director himself sat with a bleeding forehead on the sidewalk. The Ironman landed within inches of the Director with a heavy thud that would startle any creature of his size; but the Directors injuries had left him drained, and struggling to even look up at Tony Stark.  
>"Stark…why have you stopped here when you had a rampaging alien to take control of?" Nick Fury sighed heavily, knowing all too well that it was one of his boys who'd come to his aid, and not the giant metal monster he'd just had the displeasure of meeting "I figured I'd stop to make sure it was the 'rampaging alien' that caused this mess and not another bad call made by SHIELD's Council." Tony replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.<br>Nick Fury replied back, starting with a heavy cough as he tried to stand up "Robotic technology of this level is beyond Humans, even beyond you. Be realistic, Stark."  
>Tony rolled his eyes behind the mask of his iron suit "fine then. I see a situation where we can't contain the 'rampaging alien' without lethal force, so unless you say otherwise, I'm going to track it down and kill it."<br>"Tracking it down to kill it is a waste of time." Nick coughed, perking Tony's curiosity "a waste of time?" he asked, helping Nick Fury from the floor to allow him to support himself against the remains of his vehicle.  
>"Before the target nearly flattened me, S7 showed up and took control of the situation with weapons even I have never seen before." He began, pointing in the continuing direction of destruction the creature left behind "they took off that way with the target."<br>"And what do you expect me to do about it? Because it sounds like everything has been taken care of by S7." Tony asked "I want you to go; take control of what they're using to haul the target off with, and bring it along with its cargo back to Headquarters." Nick Fury replied quickly.  
>An eerie silence echoed around them, as Tony began thinking carefully about possible reasons as to why Nick Fury was so determined to get hold of the hostile target when S7 already had it under control.<br>_"What is he hiding this time?" "Does this mean S7 is working outside of SHIELD entirely as a rogue operatives group?" "Who is the real enemy here?"_  
>All these questions plus many more rang through Tony's mind, and finally he reached a climax to those questions; either S7 or Nick Fury were breaking protocol, and working outside of SHIELD, and this alien they found was the key to something they wanted.<br>"Fine. I'll do it, but I won't like it." Tony informed before firing up his thrusters and taking to the skies, in hot pursuit of the S7 operatives and their precious alien cargo.

"You could have at least called for someone to pick me up." Nick Fury muttered quietly to himself as he watched Tony Stark vanish into the heavens.

-

Tony Stark was quick to catch up the vehicle containing their robotic interest; Starscream had been apprehended by unknown means and was now lying in a heavily sedated state in the trailer compartment of a very large truck, which was valiantly protected by S7 Agent vehicles of various shapes and sizes.  
>Catching up and getting the truck to stop however was not the problem; S7 knew Tony Stark, and that fighting against him was a waste of their time and resources. His only real concern was who was in charge of the operation to begin with, and how he would deal with breaking the news to them that SHIELD wanted their catch.<p>

The Ironman landed with an almighty slam several feet ahead of the S7 Convoy, forcing them to slam on their brakes and come to a sudden stop. Almost immediately after the truck had ground to a halt the driver and head of operations revealed himself by leaning out the driver's window, shaking his fist and shouting profanities "Are you crazy, Stark?! We have to keep this convoy moving before that metallic freak wakes up!" he yelled.  
>"I will be commandeering this vessel and the cargo it carries from here on out, grandma." Tony teased, approaching the driver "Oh, yeah, sure! You have no authority over me son; I'm the head of S7 Intergalactic Operations, and to be more specific, I deal with handling the giant metal bird we just caught. So hit the road!" the driver quickly snapped.<br>"Nick Fury wants the bird. And if I were you…I'd give him the bird." Tony continued in his teasing tone "This isn't the metal owl from Clash of the Titans we're talking about! This is a giant death machine that just happens to look like a bird!" the angry driver yelled loudly, almost erratically in manner. Tony detected the growing frustration in the drivers voice, and knew he wasn't that far off from his breaking point; all he had to do was push a bit more, to get the driver out of the truck, to stand a chance of making off with it.

"Then stop calling it a bird…" Tony began, maintaining his satirical tone "or here's a better idea; give it to me so neither of us has to care anymore."  
>That was the breaking point Stark wanted; the driver had opened the door of the truck before hopping out to confront him directly. S7 Agents, especially the lead operatives, were arrogant and prideful fools that were far easier to manipulate than SHIELD's best agents. And from the way this agent was dressed, Tony knew he'd just pissed off the actual Department Leader of S7 rather than one of the common goons.<br>The agent was dressed entirely in black with a matching beret, brandishing the S7 logo with the name 'Simmons' stitched into his jacket "I can't do that, kid. S7 has this alien immigrant listed as a Level 2 Threat to National Security. We need to run some tests on it, crack it open to see what makes it tick, and I seriously doubt SHIELD has anyone with the skills or information we need to study this thing." Simmons growled angrily as he made his approach towards Tony, who shrugged at the agent "What you forgot they had me?"  
>Simmons was now within arm's reach of Tony, and made use of that distance by poking at the metallic suits chest as he began speaking "You're just a bad-news magnet. The guy we'd be interested in is Dr Bruce Banner."<p>

There was a long pause as Tony thought of a way to encourage S7 to cooperate, rather than take their catch from them with brute force "Banner, huh? Well you're in luck…because SHIELD has him. And you only get to make use of his skills and expert opinions by hauling your truck of giant metal bird around and to the SHIELD base." Tony's words seemed to just heighten Agent Simmons already frustrated and angry posture, into that of rage.  
>"You SHIELD bunch wouldn't know how to detain let alone sedate this thing! We can get Bruce Banner's help without yours!" Simmons frantically (and angrily) informed, quickly turning his back on the man in the Iron suit to return to the truck. Tony shrugged off the gesture with little effort "Suit yourself…but no bird delivered to Nick Fury, means no Bruce Banner for you. That's the deal."<br>Once again a long and unsettling pause sunk in between the pair; Simmons had stopped his approach to the truck to think things over with a clearer mind now that he couldn't see Tony Stark. As Simmons thought he began pacing, trying to think of alternative means to obtain Banner with his consent, as every agent knew by now that if Bruce didn't want to help you with a project, there was no other way to convince him without going through Nick Fury himself.  
>Simmons let out a loud sigh of defeat "…fine. We'll turn around and take the target to SHIELD HQ, but everything must be done under S7 Protocol! Only I get to interrogate the alien!" he informed, quickly sounding frantic and angered once more.<br>Tony smirked behind his iron mask as he watched Simmons return to the truck and begin barking orders to his convoy of S7 troops and agents.

"Fine by me; I don't want to talk to a machine anyway, the conversations are always so one-sided."

Starscream had been unconscious for many hours, and remarkably the device that was originally inside the truck to keep him from rocking about worked just as well as a restraint for him inside the SHIELD Headquarters. They had managed to use the Trucks built-in shifting device to get the metallic creature upright within his bonds, since looking up to talk to him would be far easier than keeping him laid flat.  
>Several scientists had also taken advantage of Starscreams state of unconsciousness, and began taking readings of various kinds of his body including some fresh samples of his metal and Energon; a substance which is still very much unknown to Humans. And, more-so, a key interest Tony Stark and Bruce Banner had over everything else they extracted from their unconscious guest.<br>Tony and Bruce were nearby Starscream, examining the fresh samples taken from him and comparing them to the samples found at the crash site; Banner had a slither of the metal they just cut from Starscreams foot under a microscope, examining it with interest with Tony nearby testing one of the many strange liquids they extracted in tubes and jars.  
>"Hmmm…Tony, you might want to take a look at this" Bruce hummed as he fixed the focusing lens at a thousand times magnification, moving aside to allow his partner a quick glance down the microscope "I've never seen metal like this before" Tony muttered as he pulled back from the microscope "it's not just the metal itself, but it's the actual structure of it that's piqued my interests. Did you see the sample from the crash site under magnification as well?" Bruce asked, returning to his examinations. Tony nodded as he too returned to his chemicals "yeah, that sample had been melted beyond recognition. I got nothing from looking at it."<br>Bruce chuckled and pulled away from the microscope, displaying a small smirk until Tony had decided to look towards him "what are you chuckling about?" Tony asked, puzzled.  
>"Well if you knew the size of the fragment that sample came from, you'd know it wasn't small. And if you also looked over the specimen as thoroughly as I did, you'd also know there are no visible injuries on it."<br>"Him." Tony quickly interrupted "Excuse me…but did you just label it as having a gender? It's a machine, Tony." Bruce laughed lightly, baffled by his partner.  
>"I did, and it's male." Tony nodded. Bruce remained looking at Tony on the brink of laughter; he couldn't believe what he was hearing, <em>"has Tony gone mad since earlier this morning?"<em> Bruce thought, maintaining his composure but still indicating he found this discussion to be rather hilarious. Tony raised his brows, flashing a slightly shocked expression to Bruce "what, you didn't think I'd check if it had junk before I started work?"  
>"I won't believe it until I see proof; machines can't have genders." Bruce laughed; taking observation of Tony as he quickly took up a beaker of one strange fluid they extracted from their alien guest "I'll show you later…now look over here! Isn't this interesting?" Tony teased, shaking the beaker about slightly. Both scientists quickly began laughing and chuckling, obviously enjoying their work on the slumbering metal giant.<p>

But one pair of individuals was not so joyful of the scenario…S7 Agent Simmons and SHIELD Director Nick Fury. Both had their reasons for disliking one another, and for keeping Starscream in their own department and out of the Council's eyes and ears. The pair of them knew they had to cooperate with one another though once Starscream awakened; it was a matter of global security to find out where he came from and why he arrived to Earth, and what his plans would involve should they be malicious or peaceful.  
>The two leaders had been taking observation of Tony Stark's attitude around their catch; S7 and SHIELD both agreed to allow no materials of any kind passage outside the SHIELD headquarters, for multiple security reasons. Tony's keenness to cut Starscream up to see what made him tick was the first red light on the security radar that he was going to do more than just research for the departments; the second red light came along when he started showing off the beakers and jars of strange liquids he extracted that nobody else had even thought of looking for. It was this over-keenness and the general security threats connected to Tony Stark that left everyone cautious as to what he might be able to slip out from the labs.<br>One slither of metal would be enough to reverse engineer into new 'Ironman' armour, and if he could find out what powered these metal giants what would he do with it should he be able to make it? These reasons, plus much more, were why Tony Stark was being so heavily watched.  
>"Why did I agree to leave NBE-02 with you, when I KNEW you'd get that walking security-breech involved?" Agent Simmons sighed, scribbling down some notes on his clipboard as he monitored four lines of fluctuating colour that represented Starscreams spectrograph readings.<br>"You had no other options, remember? You needed Dr. Banner's expertise to even study this thing, and we wouldn't allow him to work outside our Headquarters." Nick Fury replied as he remained looking over the scaffolding that separated the pair and Starscream.  
>Agent Simmons muttered lightly under his breath as he slammed the clipboard down onto the nearby table, with the sounds of the impact echoing throughout the labs until everything fell silent. The silence was unsettling, and Nick Fury knew all too well why it was that way as he had not taken his eye off the giant metal creature just five feet away from him.<br>Starscream had awakened.

His vision was a blur from the side-effect caused from his quick sedation. His body numb and limp from the neck down, was unable to even twitch under his bonds. A sharp and pulsating sound flooded his hearing, causing him to tightly close his eyes as they gradually cleared up.  
>Starscream felt some movement capabilities return to his upper body, but even trying to force his arms free from the straps and chains around his wrists was impossible.<br>"I'd stop struggling…" Nick Fury began, glancing down at Tony Stark who once again displayed one of his many fluid samples up to the Director "…sir. We wouldn't want to put you under sedation again so soon."  
>The juvenile Cybertronian stropped his struggling and turned his full attention to the Director and S7 Agent, who had begun their approach across the elevated walkway supported by the criss-cross network of scaffolding towards their bound guest. Starscream remained perfectly still and silent as the humans finally reached the end of the walkway that was inches away from the metal giant.<br>"NBE-02…" Agent Simmons began with a smirk, tapping a small booklet against the palm of his opposite hand "…you've made quite the mess; both on arrival and on your little 'stroll'." He continued, waving the small book towards the Cybertronian teasingly "Director Nick Fury has already told us you were sent here 'against your will' and that you felt 'angry'…care to enlighten me further on the subject?"  
>Starscream held his urge to speak back; instead, he lightly scratched his long metallic claws up and down against the table he had been bound to "NBE-02…" Simmons growled deeply, growing more annoyed the longer his prisoner kept silent…and continued scratching the surface supporting his body. "It looks like he's not the talkative type like I thought he was." Nick Fury shrugged, glancing over his shoulder to see Simmons quickly skimming through the strange little book he'd brought forwards with him.<br>"Fine…let's see if your name was ever mentioned by NBE-01…" Simmons muttered as he continued skipping through page after page of roughly drawn images of metallic creatures, with names in both English and an alien language beside them. Starscream raised his brows as he looked down on the human, easily able to identify the Cybertronians he saw inside the book; including himself.  
>"Starescreen!" Simmons called out, clicking his fingers once he thought he'd found the page "NBE-01's drawing matches your appearance, so don't think you can call me out on this one! I know your name, so we can discuss this like…" Simmons began with a boast of confidence, until the rather offended-looking Seeker quickly corrected the Agent with a loud and shrill "Starscream" as his answer.<br>Nick Fury chuckled to himself quietly, pointing towards the opened page of the book that displayed Starscreams name and image "did you want someone to fetch you your glasses, Agent Simmons?" he teased. Simmons firmly slapped the book shut and turned to glare at Nick Fury, who had returned his attention back to Starscream.  
>"Starscream, was it?" Nick Fury began, gripping onto the railing that separated the humans from their captive "you have a lot of explaining to do. And quite frankly, I don't have the patience for your uncooperative attitude. So you either tell us what we want to know, or we'll cut you up for information instead." He continued, staring deeply into the large red optics before him "…do I make myself clear?"<br>Starscream muttered to himself in Cybertronian as the director spoke, only breaking his muttering once he'd asked if he'd made everything clear "You think you can treat me so foully?!" Starscream hissed, clenching his fists tightly "I'm just an angry, helpless juvenile; lost and alone from my home world. You're making a mistake keeping me here!"  
>"A juvenile? You mean…you can get BIGGER?!" Simmons asked loudly, skimming through his book once again.<br>Starscream replied with a simple rolling of his optics, releasing a throaty groan of annoyance "the fact you're not fully grown is worrying" Nick Fury said as he eyed Starscream from head to toe, with said Seeker flashing a smug grin at the worried tone he'd detected in the two humans voices "you flattened an entire suburb and set fire to a second one, all within the span of a few hours. If anything, you're giving us plenty of reasons to keep you locked up here." The director finished.  
>"I don't do so well in confined spaces…" Starscream began smugly with the accompanied grin remaining plastered on his face "…ah yes…and let's just say I live up to my name when I'm denied what I want." He chuckled.<br>"So you'll just scream at us. How is that supposed to encourage us to let you go?" Nick Fury asked, causing Starscream to fall silent and shift his expression to something that was unreadable; the Director intensified his glare at the young Cybertronian as he kept strangely silent, trying to work out what he might be thinking.  
>But what they got instead of a comeback of words was one loud ear-ringing scream; it was brief, but powerful, at least enough to inform everyone that his scream was more than just an annoyance. It was actually painful.<p>

Starscream's smirk quickly returned once he witnessed the humans around him either covering their ears or ducking behind cover; he was starting to really enjoy the prospect of being on this dirt-ball of a planet after all, the creatures were weak and helpless, and he was a titan in comparison to them. The thought of conquering the Earth and using it as his new home to spawn an army of his own had crossed his mind since his first contact with Nick Fury in the streets; the planet was rich with energy and metals, though far weaker than anything Cybertronian they would still serve a purpose for making soldiers with.  
><em>"Emperor Starscream. That has a nice ring to it." <em>He thought to himself, chuckling lightly as he drifted off into his own thoughts and forgot to keep an eye on his surroundings.  
>Tony Stark (immune to the loud sounds, thanks to his taste in music) had rushed quickly to Starscreams foot with a blowtorch and didn't hesitate to use it on the Cybertronians foot; the fire from the torch didn't even trigger any pain at first in Starscream, but once it burnt through the tough outer-shell and into the weaker inner skeleton he began to feel intense levels of pain.<br>Starscream howled in agony and began struggling violently in his restraints as the merciless human cut out a large chunk of metal from his foot, and once removed, began prodding at the exposed weaker inner skeleton with a sharp metal object "looks like your armour is weak against high temperatures, Screamer." Tony teased, scraping out a sample of the weak metal, slipping it into a small tube and into his pocket without anyone else noticing.  
>The metal giant turned his attention down to the human at his feet, snarling and growling deeply towards him "oh I'm sorry, did that hurt?" Tony asked sarcastically before firing up the blowtorch again, before taking notice of the strange blue liquid seeping from the hole in Starscreams foot "oh, so that stuff is blood and not vomit…you might want to have someone check out your err…stomach if you threw that up after you crashed."<br>"Mr Stark!" Nick Fury shouted, having finally recovered from the stun caused by Starscreams scream "torture is not necessary here!" The Ironman shrugged and turned off the blowtorch "I wasn't torturing…I was proving a theory I had about the structure of his exoskeleton; it's weak against concentrated, high temperatures."  
>The Seeker growled and groaned in pain as Tony Stark continued to prod at the open wound, with the glowing red-hot cut-point in his foot slowly cooling down back to its original grey-hue. Tony took quick notice of the metals reaction once it returned to its normal temperature; a thin, flaky substance formed along the cut-off sections and over the vulnerable skeleton he'd been prodding at just moments ago, before it hardened and expanded.<br>Everyone who took notice of the rapid change looked on in shock as the once gaping wound quickly healed itself, with only the large slab of metal Tony extracted from the foot remaining as evidence that there had even been an injury on the giant.  
>"Molecular regeneration…at such a rapid rate…" Bruce Banner awed from behind his work station. Tony Stark remained speechless at first, looking equally impressed as his comrade, until the thought he had moments ago popped back into his head "someone make a note of how badly this guys 'skin' reacts to extreme heat. It might come in handy."<br>Tony Stark looked towards Nick Fury and Agent Simmons, who had begun talking to one another in hushed whispers, obviously deciding what to ask their captive next.  
>But Starscream was in no mood for idle chit-chat anymore; he'd fixated his gaze on Tony, mentally snapping a picture of him once he'd returned his gaze to meet the Cybertronians, before hissing in a whisper <em>"I'll squash you for what you did, little man."<em>

As tension rose in the labs, it was up to Nick Fury to bring everyone back down to calm control, and it seemed he and Agent Simmons were not discussing what to ask Starscream next at all but rather what action should be taken before further questioning "Simmons and I have both agreed to resume questioning tomorrow" he began "for the time being, continue with the research and do not talk to the alien…" Nick Fury turns to shoot a glance at Tony, who flashes a guilty look back to him "…he's angry enough as it is."  
>The room soon returned to normal activity as Nick Fury and Simmons departed, leaving the scientists and engineers to continue their study undisturbed; and Tony Stark, unwatched.<p>

-

The scientists had worked long into the night before the security staff had to literally drag them from Starscreams holding chamber to turn in for the night; the once hustle and bustle in the labs was now long gone and replaced with an eerie silence.  
>Back on Cybertron, night was the perfect time to commit mischief and stealth operations against enemy Autobots and sometimes, even fellow Decepticons. So it pained Starscream greatly to be bound still against the metallic slab, sensing the emptiness of the laboratory that had now become his prison, and with some luck he was able to tap in and hear what was going on outside of the confined walls of his chamber; sounds of the guards slacking off, of patrols roaming through the corridors, and the deathly quiet of the outside world beyond the large doors he was brought through.<br>The laboratory was a pitch black, with only Starscreams glowing red optics providing any source of light for the room. All other light sources were so infinitesimal they appeared only as blinking lights or small specs resembling stars. But no matter how dark it appeared, Starscream was not a human; he could see clearly in the dark, thanks to the Cybertronian trait of excellent vision accompanied by many years of stealthy night operations.  
>The isolation and cloak of darkness gave him the chance to look around at the laboratory better without the pesky humans asking him questions or burning his feet; and from what he could see most of the samples they had taken from him were still here, with the exception of the large chunk of his foot Mr. Stark had cut from earlier. Nick Fury had reluctantly handed the sample over to Agent Simmons to take back to the S7 Headquarters, for what reasons, Starscream didn't know. And quite frankly, he didn't care either.<p>

Once he'd seen all the samples and worked out what most of the tools they'd brought in were for, the next target for his optics to locate were the security systems. There were likely cameras he couldn't see behind him, but he'd already identified eight in the space before him, all with a red light blinking on each camera registering that they were online and recording.  
>That was all but one; the camera situated right in front of him had its light off, and quickly after noticing that the camera was inoperative he began to see the lights on all the others turning off until none remained.<br>"I must say, metal giant, that your ability to destroy is rather impressive." echoed a voice that Starscream had not heard before. The Seeker quickly began scouting every corner with his optics, hunting for the source of the voice "w-who said that?!" he called out with a stutter in his voice.  
>Seconds after his nervous question, the creature revealed itself before him; another human, only this one was obviously wearing attire that was far too large for its sleek structure. His emerald-green eyes radiated with a slight glow of their own, immediately catching Starscreams curiosity "…you're not like the other humans…are you?"<br>The creature chuckled lightly to himself, his arms behind his back as he gazed up at the restrained Cybertronian "no, I am not. I'm just like you, metal giant; a being from another world, sent here against his will."  
>"I see…a fellow space traveller, who crossed paths with the wrong natives at the wrong time; how wonderful." Starscream said with a heavily sarcastic tone in his voice. The creature lowered his brows and head, flashing a cold glare towards the Seeker, obviously offended by his tone "You know not who you are speaking with. I am a god, and you are just a helpless fool of a machine." The creature replied boldly.<p>

Starscream quickly lunged himself forwards, still held back by the heavy restraints on the table, baring his teeth with a sharp hiss "I overheard everything you said to your captors, and believe we may benefit working together than against one another." The creature nodded towards the array of strange and dangerous looking tools not too far from Starscreams feet "you already know what they plan on doing to you should you remain captive here, and I am perfectly capable of setting you free."  
>"Oh, so you'll let me go and then expect me to work for you?! Not a chance, fleshling! I can get myself out of this prison by myself!" Starscream snarled, struggling once again in his bonds. The creature watched in amusement as the Cybertronian writhed and squirmed against the table to no avail, before he eventually grew weary from the struggling and resorted to panting in exhaustion instead "…are you quite done?" the creature asked quietly.<br>Starscream remained panting against the table, forced to listen to the creatures proposition now that it became clear to him he wasn't going to get free by himself "my name is Loki, the rightful king of Asgard; exiled and bound to this mortal body, left stranded on this infested rock." The creature, now identified as the God of Mischief Loki, began "I have seen many worlds and many creatures metal giant, but never before, have I encountered anything quite like you. So I will ask you once again; will you join me, help me reach the world of Asgard and claim the power held deep within its treasured walls?" Loki finished, waiting patiently for Starscreams reply.  
><em>"Asgard…I have never heard of that place, then again I never heard of this planet before either and yet here I am…" <em>Starscream thought to himself _"he mentioned a 'power' but never specified what I would benefit from assisting him in reaching it. Hehehe…time to get the Starscream Charm working once again." _Starscream eased his panting and raised his brows, flashing a smug expression down to Loki "…what would _**I **_gain from this venture?" he asked with a heavy emphasis on the 'I'.  
>"I already said I would free you from this prison. What more would you ask for?" Loki chuckled, steadily approaching the samples table that Tony and Bruce had been working at previously "I want some of this 'power' you claim to know about, to assist me in my own goal of conquest. You can keep your pathetic world and kingship for yourself, I don't care about that." Starscream replied, slipping out a purr as he continued "you see, where I come from we have a very foolish and cowardly Leader. And I, being the noble and most reliable member of my people, have decided to take the burden of Leadership on for myself." He finished, looking away from the Asgardian.<br>"Then tell me…why have you been exiled? You were obviously not as popular as you think you were." Loki questioned with a slight laugh in his voice. Starscream scowled at the gesture and refused to return his gaze to Loki "I grew tired of being in my former masters' shadow and took action, and then he found out about my intentions and chose to get rid of me before I could usurp his throne! A throne that is rightfully MINE!"

_"Ah…I sense a case of familiarity here." _Loki thought to himself, strolling over to the Seekers feet restraints "I believe your name was Starscream, correct?" Loki asked, slipping a hand into his pocket as he looked up at the towering metal creature. Starscream nodded with an air of hesitation "well Starscream…I will grant your request for power, providing you give me the ability to reach it." Loki informed, now twirling a key-card in-between his fingers.  
>"And what makes you think I know how to get you to this 'Asgard'?" Starscream asked as Loki slipped the key-card into a nearby machine "I saw the aftermath of your arrival…you came here by means of Rainbow Bridge, a very advanced and complex method of travel."<br>Starscream laughed quietly to himself, fighting to urge to laugh louder than necessary "Rainbow Bridge? What nonsense is that? I came using a **Space** Bridge." He answered with a snarky grin. Loki was quick to halt the restraint machines unlocking process, to remind Starscream of the position he was currently in.  
>Once the cocky Seeker's grin was gone, Loki resumed the unlocking process on the leg restraints "In all honesty, they both seem to be the exact same thing. And we both need the Bridge to reach Asgard, so unless you know how to build the bridge, you will be of no use to me other than bait for the Avengers." Loki informed, being careful to leave the restraints on Starscreams arms in their locked position until he had the Seekers word of cooperation. But right now, Starscream was more interested in bleeding out more information "Avengers? Is that some kind of disease?" he asked with an air of sarcasm.<br>Loki shot a cold glare towards Starscream, displaying his discontent clearly to him; if the Seeker didn't seem so valuable to him in returning to Asgard, he'd have happily left him to the mercy of the scientists "We'll discuss that later. Now can you build the Bridge or not?"  
>Starscream remained silently squirming uncomfortably in his bonds, thinking over what he had been told so far and more-so, if it was all in his favour, before giving his reply "…I can. But it will take a while to finish, which means I will need somewhere to hide and build it in secret, and materials to build it with."<br>"I see. Well, I'll handle that, you just concentrate on getting it built and keeping trouble off our backs." Loki nodded, unlocking the final restraints keeping Starscream held against the table. Once freed, Starscream began rubbing his wrists and flexing his shoulders, listening carefully to the remainder of what Loki had to say to him "The Avengers are my biggest problem, but from what I have heard and seen…you have far more to worry about than I do." He began, seeing Starscreams once cocky and proud optics dilate; he sensed the Seeker was having second thoughts now that he'd raised the issue of 'trouble', and was quick to try and rid him of that fear "look don't worry; my magic will hide us for a short while, but I do have my limits. You will need to disguise yourself to stand a chance of surviving without me somehow."  
>"Hiding in <em>plain sight<em> is what _my kind _do best…"Starscream smirked, batting his eyelids proudly.

-End of Chapter 3-


End file.
